Formula 16

The Formula 16 (F16) sport catamaran is an ISAF recognised 5 m long beach catamaran with an asymmetric spinnaker setup.

It is actively sailed in two modes: doublehanded with a jib (2-up), and singlehanded without a jib (1-up).

Its class rules setup is very similar to those of the Formula 18 class of beach catamarans.

In effect any boat that adheres to a certain limited set of general design specifications may participate in all the official class races. The two classes, F18 and F16, govern the racing of their own class compliant boats.

The F16 class was founded in the spring of 2001, after it had become clear by the overwhelming success of the F18 class that formula classes would be the future in sport/beach catamarans and that a more versatile formula class was desired.

In handicap racing, the F16 uses a D-PN of 63.0

Limits

In the beginning the F18 class rules functioned as a template for the F16 class rules, but not much later the two rule sets started to diverge. The F16 class focused more and more on a truly lightweight design with a reduced rule set. The latter meaning that all rules governing a particular minor detail in the boat design, like the minimum weight of a rudder board, were dropped. The F16 rules control what is known as a 'boxrule'. Eventually a reduced number of major limits was finalized: